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Internships were poised to be a solution to this conundrum, but as one American University student soon found out while trying to bag work experience, nowadays it\u2019s hard to even land a role fetching coffee for corporate executives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a first-gen college kid utterly perplexed by the internship paradox\u2014I needed experience to land an internship, but I couldn\u2019t get experience without one,\u201d Ayala Ossowski, who has just turned 24, tells Fortune<\/em>. <\/p>\n But after hearing crickets from over 100 applications, she decided to resort to unusual networking methods.<\/p>\n The Gen Zer was already working 20 hours a week at a pizza shop in suburban Washington DC, or as she puts it, \u201cone of the wealthiest, most influential neighborhoods in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n Being face-to-face with powerful people while she served them a slice got her thinking: \u201cWhy can\u2019t these people give me a job?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe barrier I realized was that all they saw was the girl who was giving them pizza,\u201d she adds. \u201cI needed to give them a reason to look at me as a potential employee.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s when Ossowski decided she was going to start wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with her university logo on the front to every shift.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI needed to give myself some sort of credential right off the bat, that tipped off to them that I was studying,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Just as Ossowski predicted, the baseball cap was a conversation starter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead of making painful small talk while they waited for their pizza order, customers were looking at the hat\u2019s logo and asking: \u201cOh, American University, do you go there?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n They were probably being polite and didn\u2019t anticipate much of a response, but anytime Ossowski was asked about the hat she\u2019d launch into her elevator pitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYep, I\u2019m a student there studying public relations and marketing,\u201d she recited her rehearsed lines. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m actually currently looking for an internship for the spring if you know anyone who\u2019s hiring. Enjoy your pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyone looking to copy Ossowski should be warned: You\u2019ll get many strange looks while selling yourself at the shopping till of a pizza joint (or a bakery, pet\u2019s store, or clothing boutique for that matter).<\/p>\n \u201cMost of them would just kind of laugh nervously and they didn\u2019t really know what to make of it\u2014because it is a little odd,\u201d she recalls. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t care because I knew it would work. I knew this would be the only way to get my first foot in the door.\u201d<\/p>\n Her instincts were on the money. After a month of <\/strong>puzzled expressions,<\/strong> all it took was impressing the right person to conclude her job search.<\/p>\n \u201cEventually someone took a chance on me because they appreciated my tenacity, grit, and willingness to ask for what I so desperately wanted,\u201d Ossowski adds. \u201cI got the job and my last shift at the shop was the very next week.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, Ossowski had the tick-box experience she needed to rack up more work experience. One internship led to another and now, a few years on from the fateful moment, she\u2019s on Cisco\u2019s communications team.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose experiences that I had helped me get the job today,\u201d she beams. \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t worn that hat and if I hadn\u2019t gotten that first internship, I don\u2019t know, where I would have ended up.\u201d<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019re not serving DC\u2019s elite, young job seekers shouldn\u2019t sleep on networking\u2014or at the very least putting in the effort\u2014on their student job.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not only is it a good use of your time, but it enables prospective employers to see how you operate in a real-life work setting\u2014even if that\u2019s behind a bar or cash register. Ultimately, you never know who\u2019s watching you.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unbeknownst to her, Ossowski had already impressed her future boss before even asking him for work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe customer before the person who ended up granting me my first internship was a very, very difficult customer. Everything was wrong with their order, it was taking too long, their kids were hungry, it was a terrible situation,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve spent many years in the service industry, so I dealt with them with grace, helped solve their problem and they left happy.\u201d<\/p>\n The hiring manager told the graduate later on during the interview that her handling of the customer was a \u201cbig reason why\u201d he gave her his business card.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s why Ossowski also recommends keeping your elevator pitch short and sweet: \u201cIt tees off to them that you\u2019ll be able to compose yourself well in a high-level meeting and that you won\u2019t be babbling on.\u201d<\/p>\n And if pitching yourself isn\u2019t something you\u2019re comfortable with, no problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love talking to people and I am really good at pitching myself, so those were the strengths that I used in order to help me\u2014use your own personal strengths to stand out in any way that you can,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe market is so saturated with such incredible talent, that it takes some creativity in order to stand out from the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nIt only takes one person to notice you<\/h2>\n
Graduates: You never know who\u2019s watching you\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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